Satyam to offer 'testing' as an independent service

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services is likely to move the traditional testing jobs to quality solutions over a period of time. Presently, around 500 company associates work on testing as an independent service rather than as part of the project.

"Typically, for every two associates working on process, there would be one tester. Now assuming that our total workforce is about 18,000, of which two thousand to three thousand would be dealing with support and other transacting activities. This leaves about 15,000 employees who are doing development and testing. Out of this 15,000, roughly around four thousand to five thousand employees would be doing testing as part of various projects," said Satyam quality solutions senior VP and global head Prabhu Sinha.

"Industry is seeing that independent testing group is more effective than a normal testing group. Our competitors are talking of 2,000 or 5,000 people under testing. Our understanding is that they are talking of all testing people in the company. Here we are talking of specific and focused group, though little in number. Slowly the idea is to consolidate and move those traditional testing jobs towards quality solutions, which will take some time," he added.

"But we are talking of those jobs where tools and technologies are being leveraged in a big way. As we move, we create bigger value for our customers. Of the three stages-commercial, business, and mission-critical applications, we will scan through and identify those critical and commercially viable applications under independent testing as quality comes with a price," added Satyam quality consulting assistant VP Venkatesh Chillara.

"Satyam has a long-term vision of making quality as an independent service. The business and mission-critical applications are also growing at 20 percent. This is the potential landscape and we have to identify those applications that make sense to invest. Above all, it is the customer's choice whether he would be opting for independent testing or not," he added.

"Developers may not be able to do justice to testing. But for the customer, a product that is defect-free is more important. Therefore, they look for independent testing. And we expect this trend is to fast catch up as customers want to reduce defects and this is the potential market for us," informed Sinha.